Rhea Mitr, a fifth-grader from Dublin, Calif., won third place at the California state National Geographic Bee held April 5 in Sacremento. The 10-year-old who studies at Quarry Lane School in Dublin, competed with 108 semifinalists. She has won a check of $50, a certificate and a set of National Geographic videos and magazines covering the past two decades.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam, a professor of history at the University of California at Los Angeles, was last month appointed the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the Library of Congress’ John W. Kluge Center. Subrahmanyam began his tenure March 15, according to a press release on the Library of Congress website.

Raj Chetty, a Harvard University professor whose work on education was cited by President Barack Obama in last year’s State of the Union address, won the John Bates Clark young economist award. “Raj Chetty is a remarkably productive economist,” the American Economic Association said in a statement announcing the award yesterday. “He has established himself in a few short years as arguably the best applied microeconomist of his generation.

Former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Abe George, 34, hopes he can recruit more volunteers and donors to his campaign for District Attorney for Brooklyn as an increasing number of younger Indian Americans choose to settle in the multicultural, suburban-urban area of the Big Apple.

Google Inc (GOOG.O) has appointed Sundar Pichai the chief of its Android division, replacing Andy Rubin as the overseer of a software platform that in just a few years has supplanted the platform of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to become the world's most-used mobile software. "Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps.

Dr. Gopal Badlani, professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Urology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., is among three physicians nationwide selected to receive the Physician of the Year Award for Clinical Excellence from Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. According to a press release from the medical center, Badlani will receive the award on March 18 in New York City.   “Dr.

Pramod P. Khargonekar, who was appointed assistant director for the Directorate of Engineering at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., began his term this month. Khargonekar is the Eckis Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida and the deputy director for technology at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy., also in D.C.